Use facilitation techniques to help groups discover common goals

As a digital designer you probably use several techniques to run meetings, from sticky-note mapping to whiteboard sketching. When you’re in front of an unfamiliar group, your instinct might be to jump in and try to make people work together using these techniques.

That’s what I tried when I moved from a creative agency to a large financial services organization—and it didn’t work. It was difficult to get people to collaborate because I hadn’t established trust. To build trust, I learned to connect with people one-on-one before bringing groups together, which makes facilitation techniques more effective. Learn how to:

build trust by connecting with people one-on-one, even if it’s not your usual communication style

use facilitation techniques to help groups with different perspectives discover common goals

switch role from contributor to facilitator while staying true to your identity